Despite being a picky eater, I have always had a very good relationship with food.
I try to eat well, but I would never deprive myself a slice of cake or pie — unless it has nuts.
But if there is one thing I enjoy more than eating a good meal, it’s enjoying it with others.
In the Delta, I think this is a sentiment many people will agree with. Although eating is something that seems pretty standard across cultural lines, I have been to more cookouts, dinner parties, potlucks and luncheons since moving to Greenwood than any other time in my life.
Going to all these dinners and lunches has been quite a change for me.
Eating hasn’t always been a social event in my life. Simply, it was something that I had to do to nourish my body.
Although my family ate our meals together at the table every night, we rarely did something considered normal for dinnertime — talk.
We sat in mostly silence reading our separate sections of the newspaper, thumbing through a magazine or listening to the television.
When I went to college, it was very strange to me that people could talk and eat at the same time. Well, not exactly the same time, of course, but during the meal.
I have slowly adjusted over the past few years, but I still have a hard time balancing the pace of my meal with conversation. Sometimes I look down after an hour at the table with almost a full plate of food. Other times, when I have been silent, all my food is gone in less than 15 minutes.
It’s a good problem to have because it means that I am not just eating in front of my television.
I think it’s true that people enjoy food more when it is shared. Just saying yum to yourself isn’t the same as having someone else join in on your tasty tune of “mmm” and “ooh.”
I know I have enjoyed eating more but especially cooking more when other people will be there to share the experience or read about it later.
This comes with a downside, however.
In recent years, I have read several articles in women’s magazines about how eating with other people, especially friends, can cause weight gain.
Often these stories talk about how one friend can eat just about anything and not gain weight and the other suffers in silence. Or, how the person always ends up picking at stuff left on their plate or the table.
Well, “not-so-skinny” girl and snacker, talk it up with friends instead.
What I have learned from eating with friends and going to all these social events is that I simply consume less food when I am talking to people or taking pictures.
So, I suggest filling in those spaces where you would normally eat with words instead of chips and dip. You can’t — or shouldn’t — talk while you’re eating. It’s just rude.
With cookouts and dinner parties returning to social calendars for spring, enjoy both a helping of food and good conversation.
